“ The learning process is never over.

Every new work creates new sets of problems that

need immediate answers. And there are certain answers you can only find in the
works of the great masters…To find your own voice doesn’t mean you have to be deaf
to other voices. Sometimes they work as an echo, other times like a series of traffic
signs that, if right, will guide you to create a work that will touch other people.”
—Martin Scorsese
Director, The Age of Innocence

1
Chapter

Storytelling
• Making Movies Is about Telling a Story...Visually
• Words or No Words
• Words, Words, Words
• Making it Better: with Problems
• Tips from the Experts

A Movie to Watch
Star Wars: A New Hope,
directed by
George Lucas.
This, the first of the
Star Wars movies, really
follows a hero’s journey.
By combining a simple story
with special visual effects,
Lucas created an epic film.
Watch it to see how well it follows
the story formula.
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STORYTELLING
Making movies is about telling a story...visually
Almost every movie tells a story and the better This formula may sound basic, but huge
you are at storytelling, the better you will be at numbers of excellent movies have used it.
moviemaking. The power of a film comes more from how
the story is told.
One of the classic ways to tell a story is to
follow this simple story formula: You can read more about this formula in The
• There is a hero. Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler.
• Hero faces a scary or difficult adventure or
problem. He/she is trying to accomplish Telling a story in a movie differs from using
something. words to write a story. This chapter will tell you
• Hero eventually overcomes his/her fear and about those differences and give you exercises
goes on the adventure. to help you become a better storyteller…
• Hero faces serious obstacles. and moviemaker.
• Hero solves his/her problems, and
overcomes the obstacles.
• Hero reaches his/her goal and learns a lot
along the way.

Watching a movie is a visual experience.
Much of the story is shown to the viewer
without using any words. Think about a
movie that opens with a car chase, or a dog’s
view of the sidewalk as it is being walked.
No words are used (in movies, the words are
called dialogue), only visual images and
sounds: cars crashing, the jingle of a dog
leash, or sometimes, just music.
Imagine a scene in a horror film where a
monster sneaks up on his victim, ready to
pounce, and, at the last minute, the victim
turns around and screams. Again, there is
no dialogue; the director wants the audience
to see the action, to feel more captivated
and scared.
Now, imagine the opposite:
Monster “I am now approaching my victim,
ready to pounce.”
Victim “And here I am, completely unaware of
what’s about to happen.”
Monster “Here I go, about to jump!”
Victim “I think I sense something coming
towards me…uh-oh!”
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WORDS OR NO WORDS
Sometimes, movies don’t use words to tell the story.
This dialogue would be silly, and funny
instead of scary.
In filmmaking, the storytellers decide if the
feeling expressed to the audience would be
communicated better without using words.
In our daily lives, we experience non-verbal
(no words) communication all the time. Think
about when your mother, or father, or best
friend gets mad at you. Sometimes the way
they look at you, or the things they do like
ignoring you or turning their back on you can
be more hurtful than anything they might say.
How can you tell people how you are feeling
without using words?
List three ways you can communicate your
feelings non-verbally:
1
2
3
Have you ever been around someone who is
speaking a foreign language? Could you tell
something about what they were saying just
from their tone of voice, gestures, and
emotions? People can communicate without
saying, or understanding words. Many times,
you see the true character “underneath” the
words. Actors work hard to show the audience
the true nature of their characters, using more
than just words.
Can you tell by someone’s body language if
they are surprised? How can you tell?
Describe what someone might do with their
face, or other body parts, to convince an
audience they are really:
grossed out by a cockroach.
disappointed by a bad grade on a test.
shocked to hear an old lady swear.
^ EXPLORE:
acting without words
After you do this exercise, record some of your thoughts:

It was easy to act

You need at least one other person
for this exploration. It’s a little like
charades. Write down as many
emotions as you can think of, like
sadness, pleasure, anger, fear, because
surprise, embarrassment, and shyness
on individual slips of paper. Fold up
the pieces of paper and put them in
a hat or a bowl. One person picks a
piece of paper and acts out the It was hard to guess that my friend was trying to act
emotion without saying a word. The
other person(s) guesses the emotion.
However, some emotions are pretty
hard to act out.
because

I had an easy time guessing that my friend had picked

because

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^ EXPLORE:
How do directors convey
Pick one movie where the emotion of a character was communicated very effectively
without dialogue:
the feelings of the characters
without using dialogue? Movie:

Compare two movies. Look for Name of character:

techniques like the angle and
distance of the camera, the actor’s Give an example of how the director and actor revealed the character’s emotion in a
body language, the sound effects, particularly powerful scene:
and lighting techniques.

How did the music or other sound communicate the way the character was feeling?

Did you think about whether the director decided to use a particular angle of the camera,
or if the lighting helped communicate emotions?

Ideas:

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 Now choose the opposite — a scene in a movie that did a poor job of expressing feeling.

Movie:

A Movie to Watch
Black Stallion,
directed by
Carroll Ballard.
Name of character:
This is a great movie
that tells a dramatic
story without a lot of
dialogue. You should also How was this character’s emotion shown?
watch a silent movie, like
The Kid, directed by Charlie
Chaplin. Made in 1921, it is a
wonderful example of how
moviemakers were able to tell
stories even before they knew how
to make sound in movies.

Obviously, it often makes sense for characters to talk. But it is important to

realize that in film, dialogue is just one technique used to convey the movie’s
story. Filmmakers-in-training should experiment with all the techniques
introduced in this guide.

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^ EXPLORE:
how real people talk
How do people talk to each other?
How do people look as they are
listening to someone?
How do people combine words,
expressions, and other types of body
language during conversation?
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WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
Movies usually include dialogue to help tell the story.
In order to make a movie, you will probably writing dialogue. There are no rules, but the
tell your story using action without dialogue, films that many people respond to use
as well as with dialogue. It is important to dialogue that seems real — how a real person
understand how to express parts of the story would talk.
using only action and images, and to practice
Take a field trip for this exploration.
Go to a public place, like a restaurant or a
Amusing phrases or words:
mall, and observe the different ways people
communicate. Pay attention to the
conversations around you. Notice the types of Strange phrases or words:
words, accents, phrases, and topics discussed,
and how the people interact when
communicating back and forth. Do they pause
a lot? Do they talk really fast? Does the person Other observations:
they are talking to seem to understand them
better than you?
Public place:
“Characters”: You may want to keep notes about other
interesting people you observe, to give you
ideas later for developing the characters in
your film.
^ EXPLORE:
Write a conversation
DEMAUNE: Good thing we caught the bus.

CHRISTINA:
The characters are Demaune and
Christina, and they are your age.
Here is the scene: Demaune and
Christina barely made it on the
school bus, and had to sit together.
Both are embarrassed. They like
each other, but neither one wants
the other to know. Christina is
wondering if Demaune knows
about Renee’s party this weekend,
but she does not know how to ask
him. In the first line, Demaune says:
“Good thing we caught the bus.”

o Tips from the Experts

• When writing dialogue, think about how
people really speak.
• You do not want the characters to sound
like they are giving a speech.
• Have them talk the way you know people
talk. If they speak in slang, use it.
• Be sure to read the dialogue out loud.
• Listen to how it sounds. If it sounds
natural, keep it.
• If it sounds strange, or forced, rewrite it.

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Some stories are great. As you are reading or
watching them, you cannot wait to find out
what happens next. Other stories are boring,
and put you to sleep. How do you tell a story
to make it exciting?
Storytellers often make their stories more
interesting by adding conflict. The conflict can
be a battle or a contest of some kind.
^ EXPLORE:
the use of obstacles
Do obstacles really make stories more
exciting? Think about and answer these
questions:
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MAKING IT BETTER:
WITH PROBLEMS
Sometimes, conflict is created when one Question: How can you make a story more
person wants to do something, and someone interesting, more dramatic?
else is trying to stop him or her from doing it. Answer: Create an obstacle — create conflict,
Conflict can also come from within the create a problem.
character. For example, a woman wants a raise
Obstacles are more dramatic if they are alive.
in salary. She totally deserves the raise, but she
Climbing a mountain can be an obstacle, but
is insecure and afraid to ask her boss. The
it might be more dramatic if someone tries to
conflict here comes from within the woman
prevent you from climbing to the top.
— from her own fear.
What is one of your favorite movies? Did the hero face an obstacle? What was it?
Who was the hero of that movie? How did the hero overcome the obstacle?
^ EXPLORE:
creating obstacles
Character Barry, age 15, has decided he has to quit hanging out with his friends, because they
have started committing hate crimes against gays, African Americans, and Asians.
Obstacles:
Below are four characters. You create
the obstacles/conflict for each one.
Try to give them human obstacles…
someone who wants the opposite of
Character Shartelle, age 24, wants to move from New York City to her aunt’s farm in Northern
what Barry, Shartelle, Quintin, and
Michigan. She is trying to break away from a life of using drugs and get her life back together.
Juan want.
Obstacles:

A Movie to Watch Character Quintin, age 19, wants to follow his passion to become a biologist and help save
Titanic, directed by endangered species. But his mother, a single parent, thinks making money is the most
James Cameron. important priority, and will not pay for his college unless he goes to Business School.
The main character, Obstacles:
Rose, has several
conflicts — her
relationship with her
ill-suited fiancée, the Character Juan, age 13, has grown up in Kansas and he’s never left the state. He wants more
expectations of her than anything to go mountain climbing. By helping his dad with his business, collecting old
mother and wealthy social tires to be recycled, he has saved enough money for a plane ticket.
group, not to mention, trying to
Obstacles:
survive the sinking of the Titanic.
This movie is an excellent example
of how conflicts and obstacles can
intertwine.

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 o Tips from the Experts
• Stories are most interesting when the (or monster or animal) trying to block
A Movie to Watch characters have big decisions to make, the hero. The audience might even
The Truman Show, and when the audience knows that like both of them.
directed by making the wrong decision would be a • Stories can be exciting when both
Peter Weir. real disaster. sides have a good argument and it is
• Stories are most dramatic when the hard for the audience to decide who is
This is an original
conflicts are intense and require the right.
story of Truman
hero to make hard decisions. • There should be plenty of surprises.
Burbank, a man whose
• The audience should understand the
life is nationally
goals of both the hero and the person
televised, unbeknownst
to him. Truman slowly uncovers
that all the people in his life are
Notes:
“actors,” and his reality, as he knows
it, doesn’t actually exist. It’s a
wonderful film with heartwarming
scenes, clever dialogue, and a fresh
and innovative plot.
A must see!

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